The prince showed no signs of impatience, instead agreeing that she needed appropriate footwear given how much walking their day would require.
Nerves skittered in Kiva’s stomach when they arrived at her sitting room, the most challenging task now before her.
“Why don’t you take a seat,” Kiva said, motioning to an armchair near the window. “I may be a few minutes.”
Caldon followed her suggestion, clearly not in a rush, though he did say, “Just grab your first comfortable pair.”
Instead of heading straight to her bedroom, Kiva drifted over to a tea tray the palace servants kept warm at all hours of the day. With shaking hands, she poured two cups, carefully slipping the moradine petals and rosaron leaves out of her pocket and dunking them into Caldon’s tea, pushing them to the bottom.
After spending weeks with him at the winter palace, one of the few things she knew was that he was very fond of his morning tea. Praying that today would be no different, she turned with a bright smile and walked over to hand him the teacup.
“We could have gotten something while we were out,” Caldon said, accepting the steaming offering. “I was planning to show you this cute little teahouse on the way to the temple. It’s owned by an ex-apothecary, and it looks like half a forest has relocated into her store. I figured you might like to see it, but I guess we can always stop there on the way back.”
He raised the teacup to his lips, and Kiva had to stop herself from knocking it out of his hands. Jaren may have asked Caldon to show her around the city, but it was Caldon who had spent time carefully deciding where to take her based on her interests. She hated repaying his kindness by drugging him, even if she’d been left with little choice.
Caldon smacked his lips after his first sip. “This tastes different.” Kiva’s heart skipped a beat, until he gave it a deep sniff and asked, “Did you add cinnamon?”
He took another large gulp as he waited for her answer, but the potent sleeping mixture took effect before she could reply.
Kiva had never worked with moradine or rosaron before, neither having been part of her mediocre garden at Zalindov, though her father had taught her how to administer both. She’d given Caldon a large enough dose to knock him out for hours, confident there would be no ill effects aside from grogginess and disorientation upon his waking — which would only work in her favor.
She hadn’t, however, expected the drugs to kick in so fast, and she had to lunge forward to grab him when he nearly toppled out of the armchair. Both his teacup and hers crashed to the ground, spilling brown liquid everywhere.
But Caldon was out. And that was what mattered.
He would be safe in her sitting room. Tipp would be in the western palace studying with Oriel until early evening, and any servants who entered would just assume the prince was taking a nap. When Caldon awoke, Kiva hoped he’d think the same, but if he had doubts, she would be back long before the drugs left his system, giving her plenty of time to convince him that he’d dozed off while waiting for her to change her boots.
Making sure the prince was comfortable, Kiva quickly cleaned up the mess, then hurried to grab her travel cloak. Just as she was about to leave, the door to the hallway opened —
And Tipp skipped through it.
His face brightened at the sight of Kiva, but then he saw Caldon passed out in the armchair, the spilled tea slowly drying on the floor.
Tipp wasn’t a fool. It took him less than two seconds to take in everything — including Kiva’s travel clothes and the startled look on her face — and turn to her with accusing eyes.
“What d-d-did you do?”
Kiva raised her hands. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“It looks like y-you drugged C-Caldon.”
Wincing, Kiva admitted, “I didn’t think you’d be back until later.”
“I n-needed a sweater. We’re h-heading out into the gardens, and it’s g-g-going to rain soon.”
Kiva had noticed the clouds while walking back from Silverthorn, but she wasn’t about to let poor weather disrupt her day.
“Now, t-tell me what you’re doing,” Tipp demanded, his hands on his hips.
Aware that he’d worked in Zalindov’s infirmary long enough to recognize that Caldon’s state wasn’t natural, Kiva settled on a half-truth. “He’s been watching me like a hawk since Jaren left. I just needed some space.”
“So y-you drugged him? He’s been n-nothing but kind to us — all of his family have b-b-been nothing but kind. And now you g-go and do this?” His voice rose. “Why, K-Kiva?”